SPS Families
This week I had the pleasure of participating in Saltonstall’s annual Hispanic Heritage event where I had the opportunity to speak about growing up in a Cuban household and living in Brazil as a child. I also had the chance to watch our New Liberty juniors and seniors share their entrepreneurial pitches with local business owners who gave them feedback on their presentations and offered timely career guidance. Finally, at the school committee meeting this week, we had the opportunity to see STEM learning in action. Students from Mr. Beach’s class at Collins showcased the robotics program and shared their enthusiasm for the hands-on opportunity to create, design and build. These are the types of authentic and relevant offerings that excite our students about school and allow for deeper and more meaningful learning.
I want to take a moment this week to remind families of the safety protocols that we put in place in the event of an unexpected emergency. School emergencies occur in many different forms and while we can not provide all of our planning details, we think it is essential to share information about aspects of our response and the terms associated with our protocols. Further, we want to offer guidance to families about what they can do to support in the event of an emergency. Please see our school safety page on the SPS website where you will find the one sheet resource entitled School Emergency Guide for Caregivers (at the bottom of the page) which offers more insight into our crisis preparations. We also want to make you aware that on Tuesday, Nov. 7th at 4 p.m., we plan to test our emergency alert system on ParentSquare to ensure that families are receiving texts, phone calls and emails in the event of a critical incident. If you don’t receive all three, we will be asking you to reach out to a contact person at your child’s school to check on the status of your account/profile. Please stay tuned for more details about the process on Nov. 7th. Thank you for your partnership as we take every step to support the well-being and safety of our students and staff.
Have a safe and enjoyable weekend,
Steve
At Salem Public Schools, we are recognizing one staff member a week who exemplifies our core values of celebrating differences, facilitating collaboration, fostering innovation, creating equity and access, growing all students, and upholding high standards for all. We are surprising a deserving SPS team member with a rock star trophy.
This week's rockstar award goes to Ms. Kelly Quinn, school adjustment counselor at Bentley Academy Innovation School. Ms. Quinn is a TRUE rock star! Since arriving at Bentley last year, she has been instrumental in shifting the whole school's thinking about behavior. Ms. Quinn is a fierce advocate for every student, using her expertise & persistence to build relationships with staff, families & community members. The work she leads ensures that students are present for learning and ready to meet high academic expectations. Ms. Quinn has been a game-changer for Bentley!
Matt Bouchard ‘95, in his 10th year as the varsity football coach at Salem High School, was named the New England Patriots High School Coach of the Week Tuesday in a presentation at the SHS Field House.
The presentation was led by NFL Hall of Fame inductee and former Patriots linebacker Andre Tippett, Executive Director of Community Affairs for Kraft Sports and Entertainment. With the honor, the Salem H.S. football program was presented a $1,000 donation by the Kraft Family and New England Patriots Charitable Foundation.
By the end of the school year, the students involved in the Project Lead The Way (PLTW) program at the Saltonstall School will have constructed an ankle/foot orthosis and created a toy to benefit children inflicted with cerebral palsy.
They also hope to build their skills in sketching: isometric, orthographic and multiversion sketching, to be specific. What seventh or eight-grader wouldn’t?
It is only six weeks into the PLTW program at the Saltonstall School and the students of science educator Meghan Lurvey are not only learning all of the above, but enjoying it and thriving in it.
In honor of National School Lunch week, the FNS team launched a taste testing program for the MA Farm-to-School Harvest of the Month Program. SPS has taken a pledge to serve and promote each month’s locally sourced harvest item by procuring each month’s harvest items from a local farm, incorporating it into menu items, and educating students about it. Salem’s harvest of the month produce comes from New Entry Sustainable Farms in Beverly, MA. Going forward, FNS will be conducting monthly Harvest of the Month taste tests, rotating among the elementary schools throughout the year.
This month's harvest was pears. Students at Horace Mann and Witchcraft taste tested baked pears during lunch. Pears were sliced and baked with apple juice, brown sugar, and unsalted butter. These taste tests are a great way for students to try locally-grown produce, get excited about school meals, explore new flavors, and give feedback to staff on what they like. After trying the pears, students were asked to vote on if they “loved it”, “liked it”, or just “tried it”. At Horace Mann 35% of students who tried them “loved it”, 40% “liked it”, and 25% “tried it”. At Witchcraft the students loved it a bit more - 55% reported that they “loved it”, 25% “liked it”, and 20% “tried it.” The harvest of the month for November is kale and students will be taste-testing crispy barbecue kale chips as a fun recipe to try.
To show appreciation for students participating in school lunch during National School Lunch Week, each cafeteria had a table with fun freebies, coloring pages, and activity pages. Students had the opportunity each day after receiving a school lunch to enter a raffle to win a squishmallow. Two winners were chosen from each elementary school. Congratulations to all our winners!
We also celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month last week with a delicious lunch of Caribbean chicken, Spanish rice, and beans. The seasoning blend used in this popular meal is inspired by traditional Caribbean cooking. As part of the celebration, students at Salem High School taste-tested beef, chicken, and cheese tamales in the first-floor cafeteria. It was a chance for students to try something new from Hispanic culture and give their feedback on whether they'd like to see it on our menus. 59 students participated in the taste test and voted in a poll that asked the question “Would you select a tamale if offered in the home-cooking section in the first-floor cafeteria?" The results were extremely positive: 88% of students who tried the tamales voted yes, and only 12% voted no.
We had a blast celebrating National School Lunch Week 2023 and Hispanic Heritage Month with the Salem Public Schools community. Thank you to all of the FNS staff who worked hard last week, and every week, to ensure students can enjoy a delicious and nutritious meal. Stay tuned for more fun events from Food and Nutrition Services in the coming months.
On a different note, it is bittersweet to share the news that head cook, Patty Mento (pictured here), will be retiring from the Bates Elementary School at the end of October. Patty started with Salem Public Schools in November 1992. Her 30 years of service have been remarkable: she has the cleanest kitchen in the city while still cooking up a storm that feeds all her hungry students. She has brought many wonderful ideas to her position that have carried over to other schools, including strategies to use two keypads to expedite meal service for the students. She will be greatly missed by both staff and students alike. We all love her wit and her love of a good joke. She has an infectious laugh that puts us all in a good mood.
Patty, farewell & thank you from your friends in Food and Nutrition Services.
Welcome to the Virtual Backpack. This is a space where we will place items that in the past may have been a flyer in your student's backpack from friends and partners to SPS.
Jr. Celtics Academy Basketball League / Jr. Celtics Academy Liga de baloncesto (LVO YMCA)
North Shore Toy Drive / North Shore Colección de Juguetes / Coleta de Brinquedos em North Shore
A reminder that ParentSquare is the district platform for communication. You will receive communication from the district, your school, and your student's classroom all in one space. You can communicate 1-to-1 with teachers, sign up for parent-teacher conferences, and more.
This is the primary communication platform for all Salem Public Schools. All messages and alerts come through ParentSquare and the app makes 1-to-1 communication with your student's teachers and signing up for guardian/student conferences a breeze. If you are not receiving messages from ParentSquare or if you are having trouble, contact your school's front office. You can visit www.parentsquare.com for more information.
